Seven Reasons Why Obama's Nuke-Free Utopia Won't Work

The president wants to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Sounds like he's fighting the good fight, but Esquire.com's global-strategy expert argues that it's absolutely the wrong one -- a fight that might open globalization's door to World War III.

My weekly online column at Esquire.com. Find it Seven Reasons Why Obama's Nuke-Free Utopia Won't Work.

Comments

[stuart abrams]

At least you dropped the argument that we need nukes to fend off aliens. I see your points, but I can't get too worked up about this. Nukes aren't going to abolished as the world exists now, and if we ever have a world someday in which nukes could be abolished -- which I find conceivable -- then these arguments probably would not apply. If tomorrow, Obama announces that he is dismantling all US nukes, then I'll admit I was wrong and I would get concerned. But I doubt that he is going to spend much capital pursuing this aspirational project, which, I suspect, he views as being a good tactic to use in negotiations with Iran, i.e., as a rejoinder to the argument "well you and all the other big boys have nukes, so why shouldn't we?" It might be valuable in convincing the Iranians to be satisfied with the "screwdriver" solution -- which I think you could persuade (sic) the Israelis to accept -- rather than having actual nukes.

[hof1991]

Obama merely joined other wild and crazy presidents who opined that a world without nukes might be a good idea - Reagan and Kennedy for two. On that basis, I'll give him a pass, since they all knew that the necessary conditions unlikely to obtain.

[Elmer Humes]

Wow! Isn't the nuclear genie forever out of the bottle? Can it EVER return? All world strategists must know it is not possible, even Obama.So why did he propose the US take the lead to accomplish this?The answer seems to be related to the same reason you stated "...with enough on his plate to consume five or six terms, Obama needs to husband his political capital at home & his political capital abroad to focus more on pressing matters & immediate threats."Haven't you really identified a much bigger Obama problem than just his nuclear myopia?

[joe Michels]

I thought Regan's goal of zero nukes was a great idea. I held that believe for over 20 years, until I heard Tom discuss the positive effects of nukes and their chilling effect on great power wars. Tom totally, convinced me of his strong argument.

I think it is a wonderful concept, a nuke free world, for Obama to continue to discuss and promote. But he should not stop our defense department from testing, experimenting and designing better nukes.